Eighty-five percent of all flowering plants, including trees and other native plants, depend upon pollination for their survival. And those hardworking bees (many native bees, as well as honey bees) and other insects provide us with one out of every three bites of food: fruit, berries, squash, herbs, medicine, even coffee and chocolate, to name a few.

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Yes, there is a real pollinator crisis. Continual human development is creating a fragmented landscape with too few native plants and natural habitat, increasing the use of chemical and systemic pesticides, facilitating the increasing spread of invasive plants and species, which is all compounded by climate change in the long term and extreme weather in the short term.

 

The beautiful Rogue Valley has a thriving agriculture and a diverse and beautiful landscape. Pollinators are crucial for our ecosystems and food systems because not only do they pollinate our native trees and shrubs as well as many food crops we eat every day, they also provide food for birds and other wildlife. Because of the extensive work of Dr. Doug Tallamy, we now know that it takes at least 7,500 caterpillars - or more - to raise just one clutch of chickadees!   

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Our Pollinator Pages make it easy to more about the pollinators and how we can help them survive and thrive.

 

Native bees provide critical pollination services for many of our crops here in Oregon. We were happy to collaborate with Our Family Farms to create this brochure about agriculture and the important role that native bees play in our valley's food production.

 

Thankfully, people recognize the need to protect our pollinators and are planting pollinator gardens and landscapes, and avoiding toxic herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides.  
 

• Click here for more information about neonicotinoids.

• Visit our Resources page for lists of plants, nurseries and more information!

• Visit Our Gardens virtually, for information and videos about the native pollinator plants we are growing.

• Click here to learn more about the important role of native bees in agriculture.

• Enjoy our Pollinator Pages here!